Stakes and Self Reliance - Mediumcore Addon
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Description
DISCLAIMER: The addon doesn't seem to have any issues from what I can tell, but strictly speaking it is vibe coded slop. The addon is for my own enjoyment, but I'm sharing it on the off chance that anyone else might like it. Feel free to have a look through it, or report any bugs you find, or make any suggestions you can think of.
I had Codex create it, because I like the idea of adding stakes to World of Warcraft's leveling journey, like the official hardcore mode does, but I also don't want to lose my character because I have to get the door and don't have time to park them someplace safe, or because some guy dies to five kobolds and the mobs he pulled like a moron aggro to me.
The mod gives you up to seven lives; the odds of you dying to some bs as opposed to your own mistakes seven times is probably pretty slim.
Summary
Stakes and Self Reliance is an honor-system challenge addon for World of Warcraft Classic Era. It combines a multi-life "Mediumcore" challenge with optional Self-found tracking and light narrative/roleplaying contextualization.
Every death carries a consequence. Losing your final life ends your character’s "canonical" story, but it does not prevent you from continuing to play a character into whom you may have invested hundreds of hours.
The Mediumcore Challenge
Every participating character begins with one life at level 1 and earns another at each major milestone:
> Level 1: Starting life
> Level 10: +1 life
> Level 20: +1 life
> Level 30: +1 life
> Level 40: +1 life
> Level 50: +1 life
> Level 60: +1 life
This gives a character up to seven lives over the course of their journey.
Each death consumes a life. The dashboard shows the milestones you have reached, the lives you still possess, and those you have already lost.
When your character loses their final life, the challenge ends permanently. Reaching another level milestone cannot revive a character whose final death has already been recorded.
A Story Beyond Final Death
Because an addon cannot delete or lock a character, Stakes and Self Reliance establishes an honour system narrative agreement between the player and the challenge/addon. By creating a character with the addon active, you accept The Oath of Stakes:
“I acknowledge, that once my character loses their final life, any time spent playing them represents not what is, but only what might have been, had they not perished.”
While your character still has lives remaining, death does not end their story. How they return, for now, is left entirely to you: a rogue might make a narrow escape, a paladin might be restored by the Light, or fate might intervene in some other way. Mechanically, one life is spent; narratively, the character receives another chance to continue their journey.
Losing the final life changes that relationship. The addon treats this death as permanent, the challenge ends, and everything your character accomplished up to that moment becomes their completed story.
World of Warcraft still allows you to play the character, so the addon reframes everything that follows. Their later adventures are not part of the life they actually lived, but a glimpse of the future they might have known had they survived. Whenever you enter the world on a character whose challenge has ended, a pop up reminds you, saying:
“Their story has ended, but your time with them need not. You may continue playing to glimpse what they might have achieved, had fate been kinder.”
In short: remaining lives allow the story to continue, final death brings that story to an end, and continued play lets you explore a non-cannon telling of what might have been.
Self-found Tracking
The addon also tracks a separate Self-found challenge from the beginning of the character’s journey.
A Self-found run ends if the character:
> Completes a trade with another player
> Opens mail sent by another character
> Opens the Auction House
The dashboard displays each rule individually, making it clear which restrictions remain intact and which, if any, have been broken. Breaking any rule breaks the challenge, but you can at least see which one you broke.
The Mediumcore and Self-found challenges are independent. A character may lose Self-found status while continuing their Mediumcore journey, or reach their final death without having broken a Self-found rule.
Opening an empty mailbox does not end Self-found status. The mail restriction applies when the character opens mail sent by another character. Likewise, canceled trades do not count; the trade must be completed.
Opening the Auction House counts as using it and immediately ends the Self-found challenge.
The Dashboard
The themed dashboard provides:
> Current Mediumcore challenge status
> Available and lost lives
> The next life milestoneIndividual Self-found rule status
> Clear active, ended, and ineligible states
> A movable minimap button
> A final-death notice for fallen characters
> The Oath of Stakes and its narrative framing
The life display uses milestone icons to show your character’s journey at a glance. Earned lives become available as you level, while lost lives are permanently greyed out in order from the earliest milestone onward.
Character-Creation Requirement
A legitimate challenge must begin when the character is created.
When first registering a character, the addon checks that they are:
> Level 1
> At zero experience
> Carrying no money
> Holding no quests
> Within the first five minutes of total playtime
Characters that cannot be verified from the beginning are marked as ineligible.
Because World of Warcraft does not provide addons with a definitive “this character was just created” signal, these checks are necessarily an approximation. A character who previously entered the world without the addon but accumulated no experience, quests, money, or significant playtime may be technically indistinguishable from a newly created character.
An Honor-system Challenge
Stakes and Self Reliance is designed to support a personal challenge, not to function as anti-cheat software.
The addon can record deaths and Self-found violations while it is enabled, preserve that record between sessions, and present the state clearly. It cannot observe what happens while it is disabled, prevent SavedVariables from being edited, or prove that a player has followed every rule honestly.
If someone disables the addon to avoid recording a death or prohibited action, they have chosen not to participate in the challenge in good faith. No addon can replace that element of personal responsibility.
The purpose of Stakes and Self Reliance is to make an honest run more engaging, memorable, and convenient to track.
In short: Do with it what you will, I made this for me and do not care if you cheat and break the rules of the challenge.
Installation
1. Download and extract the addon.
2. Place the Mediumcore folder inside: World of Warcraft\_classic_era_\Interface\AddOns\
3. Enable Stakes and Self Reliance – Mediumcore Addon before entering the world on a newly created character.
4. Enter the world and begin your challenge.
5. Open the dashboard using the minimap button or /ssr.
The addon is intended for World of Warcraft Classic Era.
Updating the Addon
Challenge progress is stored in World of Warcraft’s SavedVariables rather than inside the addon files. Replacing the addon with a newer version should preserve:
> Registration and eligibility
> Lives earned
> Lives remaining
> Final-death status
> Self-found tracking
> Recorded Self-found violations
> Minimap-button position
For additional safety:
- Fully exit World of Warcraft before replacing addon files.
- Keep the installed folder named
Mediumcore. - Consider backing up your
WTFfolder before major updates.
What Kind of Journey Will Yours Be?
Will every life be spent before level 60, or will some remain unused?
Will your character remain entirely self-reliant, or will temptation end that part of the challenge?
Should only a single life remain, will you let your character retire from adventuring and live out the rest of their days in peace?
And if your character finally draws their last breath, will you leave their story where it ended, or continue onward to discover what might have been?
Stakes and Self Reliance - Mediumcore Addon Team
